Apparatus for enrobing frozen confectionaries

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus are disclosed for enrobing frozen novelty confectionaries, such as ice cream products. The products are passed beneath a waterfall of the enrobing material, with the conveying mechanism separating rows of confectionaries and aligning them with dams in the waterfall to avoid covering the stick portion of the novelty. Conveying apparatus for the novelties is also disclosed.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Frozen novelty confectionaries, such as ice cream bars, are often formedwith shell or coating of a candy-like material, such as chocolate. Ifthe novelty bars do not have sticks inserted therein, the coating orenrobing process typically takes the form of conveying the frozennovelty along a metal mesh conveyor, with the conveyor passing under a"waterfall" of the melted coating material. This operation coats thetop, front, back and sides of the bar. Slightly after passing of thenovelty under the waterfall, the bottom of the novelty is contacted witha metal mesh conveyor or roller positioned within a bath of the coatingmaterial, to thereby coat the bottom portion of the novelty. The noveltyis then passed to a chill tunnel for hardening of the coating materialand is wrapped and packaged for shipment.

This enrobing system is economical, since the system includes apparatusfor recapturing excess coating material from the waterfall which is notcoated onto the novelties and recirculating this material. Low losslevels are thus the result.

While this system has been successfully employed with non-stick frozennovelties, the system has not met with success in the past withstick-type products. This is due, to the greatest degree, from thenature of the waterfall. The waterfall is continuous across theconveyor, which conveyor has a plurality of rows of novelties thereon,coating both the rows of novelties and the spaces therebetween, with theexcess material passing through the metal mesh conveyor. If stick-typenovelties were passed through such a system, the sticks, as well as theproducts, would be coated. Such a result is clearly unacceptable.

As a result, separate enrobing apparatus for coating stick-typenovelties has been developed. Such enrobers are designed to dip or spraya stick-type novelty with the coating material while the novelty is heldby its stick.

The dipping or spraying systems currently available have a number ofdrawbacks associated therewith. First, the systems are prone tosplashing and/or spattering, due to the dipping action or thehigh-velocity spraying. Such is not the case in a gravity-typewaterfall, where lower coating material velocities are employed. Thus,the dipping and spraying systems are "messy", i.e., a significantquantity of a coating material is not recaptured by the recirculationsystem. Rather, a significant quantity of this coating material winds upon the floor, walls and other components of the system. Such a resulthas the obvious impact of increasing maintenance and cleanup time,thereby increasing downtime for the system. Equally important, the lostcoating material is wasted, thus increasing the cost of the novelty tothe consumer.

There are other disadvantages associated with enrobing apparatus thatrequire the product to be held by its stick during enrobing. Such asystem requires that all novelties be oriented identically as theyarrive to the enrobing means, so that the sticks thereof can be capturedby the system. This limits the number of novelties that can be handledon the conveying apparatus upon which the products are initiallyextruded and passed to a freezer. Also, there is the chance of a noveltyfalling from the grasp of the enrobing apparatus and thus becomingwaste.

It is thus a primary objective of the present invention to provide amethod and apparatus for enrobing stick-type confectionary noveltiesusing a waterfall enrobing apparatus.

It is also a primary objective of the present invention to enrobestick-type confectionary novelties in a waterfall-type enrober withoutcoating of the sticks.

It is also a primary objective of the present invention to provide amethod and apparatus for enrobing stick-type novelties which do notrequire the novelties to be held by their sticks during coating thereof.

It is another primary objective of the present invention to increase theproductivity of the novelty producing system by increasing the number ofnovelties which may be extruded onto its conveying mechanism andsuccessfully handled by the system.

THE PRESENT INVENTION

By means of the present invention, the above-stated objectives areobtained.

The method of the present invention comprises raking confectionariesfrom a freezer conveyor, spacing the confectionaries along a conveyor,passing confectionaries under a waterfall of coating material, bafflingthe stick portions of the confectionaries to prevent coating of thesticks, and coating of the bottom of the confectionary.

The apparatus of the present invention includes a rake-off mechanism forremoving the confectionaries from the freezer conveyor, a belt conveyorhaving a plurality of belts angled with respect to one another to orientthe confectionaries into a plurality of spaced rows and a waterfallenrober having baffle means positioned therein to protect the stickportions of the confectionaries from being coated.

Additional conveying means, including a baffled belt conveyor, are alsodisclosed, for transporting the enrobed product for further processing.

When employing the method and apparatus of the present invention,increased line productivity is obtained by permitting denser packing ofthe freezer conveying means. Further, by employing a gravity waterfallmechanism for enrobing stick-type products, reduced waste of the coatingmaterial and downtime for maintenance and cleaning results, due toreduced splashing and/or spattering of the coating material.

These and other objectives of the present invention will become apparentfrom the following description of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The method and apparatus of the present invention will be more fullydescribed with reference to the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of an ice cream novelty productproduction line;

FIG. 2 is a front elevational view of the ice cream extruding andcut-off apparatus;

FIG. 3 is a top elevational view of the ice cream extruding and cut-offapparatus;

FIG. 4 is a front elevational view of the stick hopper and insertingapparatus;

FIG. 5 is a top elevational view of the stick inserting apparatus;

FIG. 6 is a front elevational view of the enrobing apparatus andrake-off mechanism;

FIG. 7 is a top elevational view of the enrobing apparatus;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the waterfall mechanism;

FIG. 9 is a front elevational view of a side coating mechanism;

FIG. 10 is a top elevational view of the side coating mechanism;

FIG. 11 is a front elevational view of a chill tunnel;

FIG. 12 is a top elevational view of the chill tunnel;

FIG. 13 is a front elevational view of a conveying and collatorapparatus;

FIG. 14 is a top elevational view of the collator apparatus; and

FIG. 15 is a front elevational view of a rake-off mechanism for thecollator apparatus.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 diagrammatically illustrates a frozen novelty forming systemwhich employs the method and apparatus of the present invention.

A conveying station 1 is positioned at one end of a freezer 2. Theconveying mechanism preferably comprises a plurality of trays 62, asshown in FIG. 7, which are formed into an endless conveyor. Thisconveyor enters and exits freezer 2 at one end thereof and hassufficient length within freezer 2 to hold the novelty confectionariestherein a sufficient length of time to harden the product. Suchapparatus are common and do not form a part of the present invention. Atypical freezer-conveying mechanism apparatus which may be employedaccording to the present invention is also illustrated in U.S. Pat. No.3,648,625.

Positioned over the conveyor trays 62, just prior to the entry of thetrays 62 into freezer 2, are a plurality of novelty extruders 3. Asillustrated in FIG. 1, five extruders 3 are positioned to extrudenovelties onto a single tray 62. The details concerning this apparatuswill be described below. The novelties extruded from extruders 3 enterfreezer 2 and, as previously mentioned, are held for a period of timesufficient to thoroughly harden the product.

Eventually, the now frozen novelties exit freezer 2 and pass alongconveying station 1 and under rake 4. Rake 4 removes the products fromthe trays 62 and passes them to spacing conveyor and enrober 5, wherethe novelties are spaced and coated.

Next, the novelties are passed to chill tunnel 6 where the novelties arecooled to harden the coating material prior to further processing. Thenovelties next pass to collator conveyor 7 where they are oriented intoa single file, and then pass along conveyors 8 and 9 to packing station10, finally leaving the system along conveyor 11.

FIGS. 2 and 3 illustrate the frozen novelty extrusion and cut-offapparatus 3. Entry tubes 20 are attached to the source of product (notshown). The product is pumped to tubes 20 in a semi-hardened state, suchthat the product will hold a shape, but soft enough that it may bemolded. The entry tubes 20 are connected to molds 24. Entry tubes 20 andmolds 24 are held in place by being fastened between top plate 22 andbottom plate 23. The molds 24 make take any of numerous shapes, such asround, oval, square, rectangular, animal shapes, etc. For simplicity,the molds 24 are shown as rectangles, having rounded corners along oneend thereof. This is by far the most common shape for stick-type icecream bar novelties. As the molds 24 are filled, the ice cream product45 is extruded through the end of the mold 24 but, due to its nature,adheres to the remainder of the product 45 within mold 24.

At properly timed intervals, air cylinder 28 is advanced and rods 30,which are connected to air cylinder 28 by means of mounting bracket 32attached to air cylinder 28, are advanced. A heated wire 34 melts andcuts the novelty bar 60, and the novelty 60 drops onto the conveyor tray62.

Just prior to the action of wire 34, a stick inserter 40, illustrated inFIGS. 4 and 5, inserts a stick 44 into the product 45.

Stick hoppers 42 carry a plurality of vertically stacked sticks 44therein. At the appropriate time, as determined a timing means linkingstick inserter 40 and wire 34 (not shown), air cylinder 46 is extended,forcing linking bracket 48, connecting bar 50, and push rods 52 forward.The push rods 52 force sticks 44 out of stick hoppers 42 and into theice cream product 45.

Stick inserter 40 is mounted adjacent extrusion apparatus 3 by means ofbolts 56 passing through back plate 55 of stick inserter 40 and boltedto openings 58 in the back plate 39 of the molding apparatus 3.

While the molding and stick inserting apparatuses illustrated in FIGS. 2through 5 are illustrated to accommodate the formation of three barssimultaneously, it is clear that fewer or more bars could be formed bythe rearrangement of the component parts of the apparatuses. Thus, inFIG. 1, a three bar molding system is illustrated adjacent a two barmolding system, with the result that five bars are placed on a giventray 62 of the freezer conveying mechanism 1.

It should also be noted that, as previously mentioned, mold 24 could bereplaced to form different shapes. Some of these shapes would notrequire sticks. In that event, stick inserter 40 would be deactivatedwithout affect on the balance of the system.

FIG. 6 illustrates a typical rake-off mechanism 4 which removes thefrozen bars from the freezer conveying mechanism 1 and positions themonto the enrobing apparatus 5.

Novelty bars 60, comprising product 45 and sticks 44 mounted therein,are carried along conveying mechanism 1 on trays 62. As can best be seenin FIG. 7, the sticks 44 of a given row of bars 60 overlap into theproduct 45 of the opposing row of bars 60. Thus, any attempt to coat thebars 60 with a waterfall of coating material at this point would coatboth product 45 and sticks 44.

To remove the bars 60 from trays 62, the rake-off mechanism 4illustrated in FIG. 6 is employed. The mechanism includes an aircylinder 64, which is timed to extend rake 66 downwardly at intervals,such as that illustrated in FIG. 7, when a complete row of filled trays62 is present. As illustrated, a complete row comprises three trays 62.Rake 66 is lowered, and fingers 68 thereof pass between bars 60. As isreadily apparent, the shape of rake 66 and the positioning of fingers 68thereon may vary, according to the type of novelty 60 being produced. Atthis point, and while rake 66 is still lowered, air cylinder 70 isretracted, pulling rake 66 and positioning the bars 60 onto conveyor 72.After the bars 60 are positioned on conveyor 72, air cylinder 64 isretracted, raising rake 66, to enable rake 66 to clear the bars 60, andair cylinder 70 is extended, to return rake 66 to its ready position forthe next group of trays 62.

The conveyor 72 comprises a pair of shafts 74 and 76 and a plurality ofbelts 78 positioned therebetween. Shaft 74 is driven by means of belt orchain 80 which is connected to pulley 82, which is in turn connected tomotor 84. A variable speed drive 85 controls the speed of motor 84.

Shafts 74 and 76 are preferably grooved to hold belts 78 in alignmenttherebetween. Belts 78 may be, for example, rubber or plastic tubularbelts, such as o-ring belts.

The belts 78 are oriented as a series of pairs, with each pairaccommodating the novelty bars 60 of a given tray 62. Each pair of belts78 is divergent from the entry point of the bars 60 onto conveyor 72 atpulley 74 to their point of exit from conveyor 72 at pulley 76. Thisaction spreads the rows of bars laterally, such that the sticks 44 nolonger overlap into the product 45 of adjacent bars 60 when the bars 60reach pulley 76. At this point, the bars 60 are ready for enrobing.

The enrobing apparatus 5 includes a tank 116 which is filled with thecoating product. Tank 116 may be filled manually, or may be continuallyfed by means not shown. Heater 117 maintains the coating product withintank 116 at a suitable coating temperature. The coating material iscirculated through the system by means of exit pipe 118, pump 120, andpipe 122. Pipe 122 feeds T-shaped fitting 97 at the rear and X-shapedfitting 94 at the front of the enrober 5. The only difference betweenfittings 97 and 94 is the addition of a connection for temperaturesensor 95 at the front of the enrober 5. From fittings 94 and 97, thecoating product passes through lines 96 and T-shaped fittings 98. Partof the coating product passes through elbows 100, pipe 108 and valve110. Valve 110 controls flow of the coating product to side coaters 112,which will be more fully described below. Valve 102 controls flow fromfittings 98 to a pipe 104. Pipe 104 includes a plurality of openingstherein, permitting the coating product to fill a generally V-shapedwaterfall mechanism 106, which is positioned between splash plates 107.The operation of the waterfall 106 will be more fully described below.

At the other end of fittings 94 and 97, valves 92 control flow of thecoating product through line 90 and exit pipe 129 to a bottom formingstation. The bottom forming station will be more fully described below.

In operation, the bars 60 are passed from conveyor 72 to conveyor 114.Conveyor 114 comprises a pair of pulleys 124 and 126 which are driven bymeans not shown and a metal mesh conveying surface. First, the bars 60pass between the plurality of side coaters 112 descending from pipe 111and activated or deactivated by means of valve 110. If the product is astick-type product, as illustrated, the side coating system 112 isdeactivated. If, however, other products, such as an ice cream-cookiesandwich, in which the cookies extended beyond the ice cream, such thatmaterial coated on top of the cookie will not flow into the side areasof the sandwich, is to be enrobed, side coaters 112 are employed to coatthese side portions.

Side coaters 112 are illustrated in FIGS. 9 and 10. These units 112comprise tubes 130 having a central opening 132 which communicates bymeans of side openings 134 with outlets 136. Depending upon whether theside coater 112 is a central unit or an end unit, either two or one exitnozzles 136 are present. The side coaters 11 may be formed of metaltubing, but are readily formed of molded plastics.

Next, the novelty 60 passes under waterfall 106. Waterfall 106 issupported by means of rods 140, 142 and 144 and is mounted betweensplash guards 107. Waterfall 106 comprises a generally V-shaped troughinto which exit pipe 104 is positioned. The coating product, metered bymeans of valve 102, exits openings in exit pipe 104, filling theV-shaped trough and overflowing at the point over support rod 144. Ascan best be seen in FIG. 8, the waterfall 106 includes a plurality ofbaffles 150 and a plurality of troughs 152. The coating product cascadesdownwardly by gravity along troughs 152. Due to the orientation of thebars 60, as provided by means of conveyor 72, the novelty product 45 iscoated, while the majority of the stick 44, passing under baffle 150, isprotected, providing a clean handle for holding the finished bar 60.

After passing under the waterfall 106, the bars 60 pass under an airblower 146, where excess coating product is removed. All excess coatingproduct from side coater 112, waterfall 106 and blower 146 are collectedin tank 116 for recirculation, as previously described.

The bars 60 exit conveyor 126 and pass onto conveyor 133. Conveyor 133is positioned between driven pulley 134 and stationary knife pulley 132.A trough 130 is fed coating product by means of exit pipe 129 havingopenings therein, similar to exit pipe 104 previously described, whichis connected by means of line 90 and valve 92 to the recirculatingportion of the enrober 5. Trough 130 is permitted to overflow, providinga crown of coating product, due to surface tension. Metal mesh belt 132is not completely taut, providing a slight dipping action of the bottomof the bar 60 into the coating product, providing coating on the bottomsurface thereof. The overflow from trough 130 is caught in tank 135 andtransferred by means of line 136 to tank 116 for recirculation.

FIGS. 11 and 12 illustrate the chill tunnel through which the bars 60pass from conveyor 133. A conveyor belt 160 mounted between pulleys 162and 164 and driven by conventional motor means (not shown) passes thebars 60 into a chill tunnel 166, where the coating product is hardenedprior to packaging. Chill tunnel 166 may operate at a temperature in therange of about -10° to -30° F. (-23.3° to -34.4° C.).

FIGS. 13 and 14 illustrate the collator mechanism for the bars 60. Abelt conveyor 180 comprises a pair of pulleys 182 and 184, which aredriven by means of chain or belt 186 connected between pulley 184 and apulley 188 of a gear box 190 connected to motor 192. Novelties 60exiting chill tunnel 166 from belt 160 at pulley 164 are transferredonto belt 180, and as they are carried along belt 180 contact the wallsof one of the baffle plates 200, 202, 204, 206, 208 or 210 positionedslightly above belt 180. These baffle plates 200 through 210 contact theproduct 45, rather than stick 44. The baffle plates 200 through 210 mayinclude guide rails mounted thereon at the height of the bars 60,reducing the amount of contact between the baffle plates 200 through 210and the bars 60. The frictional forces between the product 45 and theplate 200 through 210 which it contacts turns the product, such that theproduct is then guided into a row formed between adjacent baffle plates.

At a point slightly before the lanes converge to a single lane, aphotocell unit generally illustrated at 220 operates. The photocellswithin unit 220 are not illustrated, however, photocells 222 and 224illustrated over the convergent single lane 226 illustrate the form ofapparatus employed. The photocells within unit 220 operate air cylindersand stop bars, similar to those illustrated at points 228 and 230, tohold the bars 60 in their respective lanes. The cylinder connected toone lane is opened, permitting a number (as illustrated five) bars 60 topass through, at which time the second, and then the third lane feeds anumber (in the case illustrated five) bars 60 to the single lane 226.Once in the single lane, a bar 60 first passes under photoelectric cell222. If a bar 60 is under second photoelectric cell 224, the stopcylinder associated with photoelectric cell 222 is closed, until the bar60 under photoelectric cell 224 has passed therethrough and a slighttime delay thereafter has occurred. After the bar 60 passes underphotoelectric cell 224 and a slight time delay thereafter, the stop barassociated with photoelectric cell 222 is opened and the stop aircylinder associated with photoelectric cell 224 closes, stopping theforward motion of the bar 60 under the second photoelectric cell 224until a sufficient time has passed to space the initial bar underphotoelectric cell 224.

The bars 60 may pass to a conveyor 8 as illustrated in FIG. 1 fromconveyor belt 180, either by the forward motion of belt 180, or, theymay be raked from belt 180 by a mechanism such as the rake-off 15illustrated in FIG. 15. From there, the bars 60 pass to a conventionalwrapping and packaging station 10, finally exiting the system alongconveyor 11.

The rake-off mechanism for the collator is illustrated in FIG. 15.Positioned above belt 180 are a pair of pulleys 300 and 302 which aredriven by means not shown and which include a chain 304 therebetween.Connected to chain 304 are a plurality of spaced pushers 306. Thepushers 306 push bar 60 from conveyor 180 and onto plate 318. Asmovement of chain 304 continues, the bar 60 drops from plate 318 toanother conveyor (not shown) which is positioned at an elevationsomewhat lower than belt 180, such that pushers 306 may pass over bar 60after its removal from plate 318.

Pulley 302 is mounted on plate 308 which is positioned between tracks307 and 309. Plate 308 is positioned by means of bolt 310 which passesthrough connecting plate 312, which is in turn connected to backplate320 and lock nuts 314 and 316. This adjustment system sets the tensionon chain 304 for proper movement of the rake-off 15.

From the foregoing, it is clear that the present invention provides anefficient and logical system for enrobing and transporting noveltyproducts from their formation to their packaging. While emphasis hasbeen made with respect to stick-type products, since these productsproduce the greatest degree of problem and yet are handled effecientlyby the system of the present invention, it is clear that the system ofthe present invention has equal utility with respect to non-stickproducts.

While the invention has been described with reference to certainspecific embodiments thereof, it is not intended to be so limitedthereby, except as set forth in the accompanying claims.

We claim:
 1. In an apparatus for coating articles with a coatingmaterial comprising conveyor means for said articles and waterfall meanspositioned over said conveyor means for coating said articles, saidwaterfall means comprising a trough containing said coating material andhaving an overflow lip, the improvement wherein said waterfall meansincludes spaced baffles positioned along said lip to prevent flow ofsaid coating material from said lip at said baffles to provide spacedportions along said waterfall means having no downward flow of saidcoating material therefrom and troughs extending downwardly from saidlip and alternating aong said lip with said baffles to provide spacedportions along said waterfall means having downward flow of said coatingmaterial onto said articles.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein saidconveyor means includes means for spacing said articles to orient saidarticles under said troughs.
 3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein saidspacing means comprises pairs of conveying surfaces which diverge fromthe point of entry of said articles onto said conveying surfaces totheir point of exit from said conveying surfaces.
 4. The apparatus ofclaim 3 wherein said conveying surfaces comprise a plurality of o-ringbelts.
 5. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising means for coatingthe sides of said articles.
 6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein saidside coating means comprises tubes positioned between rows of saidarticles, said tubes having openings therein positioned to coat thesides of said articles.